Panama City

We got to the airport and everything was operating as normal as we watched Tutu's place leave.

As we were lining up to board our plane for Denver, there was an announcement. "We need four passengers to offer their seats and we'll give them the next flight out tomorrow with complimentary hotel stays and food vouchers and free round trip tickets with Delta." I looked at Ryan and thought...well, the boys were awesome with the flight down, let's do it! Seriously, four round trip tickets for the family. In my mind, that equates to savings for a one-night extended stay - - all thanks to Delta. Well - - - that's what we got! We already were planning our trip with the free tickets in hand - - is it back to Florida, LegoLand in San Diego, Washington DC, or somewhere new? Anyway, we got our things and headed into Panama City, Florida.

They plopped us down next to the mall and we decided that was the only place to go so off we went. The food options weren't great so we opted for room service. Because of the fact that Jack was awesome with pooping, we let him pick out his first package of underwear. He chose a Glow in the Dark Spiderman assortment. He proudly carried that bag around that a badge of honor. It was. Eban saw a bouncing thing and we said he could do that. It was fun to see him to a big kid activity. Obviously my cell phone doesn't take great pictures, but you get the drift.

After our hotel movie and dinner on our beds, we promptly went to bed to catch our flight out in the morning.

It was great and then we all had first class to Denver!! Yippee---the boys were good in first class so that was a big bonus.

Ahhhh....until next year and our next beach trip!

Mexico Beach Part II

While we were in the water, we could see little fish around our ankles and the kids loved this. The locals informed us they were pin fish and they were so excited to find remnants of pin fish on the beaches when we would hunt for shells. I hunted for coral - - that was my favorite pasttime.

Due to the sea life, Jack received new flip flops from the local market. He chose crab flip flops as he wore out his other pair. He simply LOVED his crab flip flops.

On the Jack stories, we FINALLY obtained Code Brown on this trip. After many days and weeks of pushing him to use the potty, he finally sat on the toilet and did his business. We couldn't have been more thrilled and excited as he was stubborn as all get out with pooping.

For Tutu's birthday, we went all out and drove to the local market to get ice cream and then walk on the Mexico Beach Pier. All was wonderful until Eban licked his bubble gum ice cream scoop off and therefore, into the street. Of course, there was a major meltodown and we continued walking. That's what I remember from that evening and eavesdropping on the locals. The locals had a major accent -- southern mixed with something else. I just loved it.

In fact, one day when we were walking to the beach, a local walked past Uncle Steve and said, "Don't pay us no mind." We all remembered that line!

Finally, we had a big outing to Apalachicola. This was a quaint city where the fisherman dock that's inland from the ocean. Loved this cute town. We found a restaurant called Boss Oyster and immediately fell in love. Ryan and Stephen ate a TON of oysters...some with caviar and some with other stuff. Tutu and I didn't share in their excitement of oysters but they said they were amazing. I take their word on that. We sat at a table on the water and loved it. A bird even came down and snatched something from our table so that was fun. As we drove home (45 minutes or so and our LONGEST outing since we had arrived), Eban was sitting with Tutu and was moaning about the drive. Finally, he exclaimed, "TUTU AND I CAN'T STAND ANOTHER MINUTE!" I loved how he threw her under the bus with him as he wanted to be home and not driving home. The sunset was phenomenal as we drove home...I had to stop and take some pictures as it was inspirational.

We did go out to eat one more time before we left...it was to a local favorite called Rodeo. They are known for their char-grilled steaks. THEY were delicious...unbelievable! We celebrated our last night with sparklers...

Finally, it was time to leave. It's always said leaving the beach. Always.

We headed out of town and stopped at Applebee's for a pit stop when Jack informed me that he had to use the toilet. My goodness was I excited when he did this on his own accord!! We had a celebration for him and he knew we were so proud of his big boy choice!! (Selfishly, I'm thinking we can FINALLY save on all these diapers!)

We get to the airport and see Tutu off (my goodness look how tan they are below). Our flight was about an hour after hers so it was perfect timing BUT

...to be continued...